The Dress
by redrose7856
Summary: Post VDT. Edmund tells Susan about Lucy's strange question on whether or not she was beautiful and Susan determines to show her sister how beautiful she is, and Edmund is, unfortunately, dragged along for the ride.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Narnia. It belongs to C.S. Lewis and his heirs.**

**A/N: This is a oneshot I thought of after seeing Narnia. It irked me that Edmund was so oblivious to Lucy's problems in VDT, considering how perceptive he usually is. So, this is my idea of what happened.**

**Edmund's POV**

"Ed! Earth to Ed!"

I blinked and looked at Susan. She was staring at me, looking confused and annoyed, and I realized I'd stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, lost in thought.

"Huh?" I asked.

"Edmund," she said, rolling her eyes. "Haven't you heard a single thing I've said?"

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I was thinking."

"Obviously," she retorted, rolling her eyes. "What about?"

I shrugged.

"Just something Lucy said."

"What did she say?" Susan wanted to know.

"She asked if I thought she looked anything like you," I said slowly. "And she was acting weird, too. She kept brushing her hair back, and-!"

Susan's laughter stopped me.

I stared at her. "What? What did I say?"

"Oh, Ed!" she cried between fits of laughter. "Lucy's growing up, she was wondering if you thought she was _pretty_."

"Oh."

Susan was still grinning at me.

"Well, what did you tell her?" she asked.

"Um, nothing, really," I answered.

She shook her head, her dark hair bouncing.

"Then we'll give her your answer," she said, her blue eyes flicking around the street. "Come on!"

Grabbing my hand, she yanked me into a stumbling run across the street and into one of the shops.

Once we were inside, I stared at my surroundings, feeling a horror unlike any I'd ever felt build up inside of me.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"A fabric shop," Susan said patiently. "We're making Lucy a dress. Come on, help me find fabric."

Releasing my hand, she skipped off, leaving me bewildered in her wake.

"What am I looking for?" I called.

"Something that screams 'Lucy' to you!" she answered before vanishing behind a huge pile of orange fabric.

Thoroughly confused, I made my way down the aisles, looking at the cloth.

The problem was that when I looked at a color, I thought of something that _was_ that color. Red made me think of my Narnian armor, green the grass, tan the color of Cair Paravel, etc.

Nothing really leapt out at me as being distinctly _Lucy_.

Then I saw it.

It was dark blue, and it seemed to shimmer.

_To the glistening Eastern Sea, I give you Queen Lucy, the Valiant._

As Aslan's words reverberated through my mind, I grabbed the bolt of cloth, yanking it off the shelf, accompanied by about half a dozen of its brethren.

Muttering a curse, I grabbed a handful of cloth and pulled in an attempt to lift them, but more cloth came off of the roll and I groaned in frustration.

"Edmund, what have you done?"

I looked up.

Susan was standing there, looking shocked, accompanied by a very irritated looking saleswoman.

I smiled weakly.

"I'll clean this up," I assured them, stuffing Lucy's cloth beneath my arm and kneeling to pick up the fallen fabric.

Someone pulled Lucy's cloth from beneath my arm and I looked up.

Susan was holding it, her lips parted in a silent gasp as she stared at it.

Her lips moved, and I could tell that she was repeating Aslan's words.

"Oh, Ed," she said, sounding close to tears as she smiled at me. "It's _perfect_!"

The last word was a cry and she lunged at me, hugging me tightly and giving me a solid kiss on the cheek.

I was so startled I dropped all the rolls of fabric I'd managed to pick up, and I risked a glance at the saleswoman.

She had her arms crossed and was glaring at us, lips pursed.

"Go," she said briskly. "I'll deal with this.

Susan thanked her and we went and bought the fabric.

She insisted on making the dress alone, and ordered me to keep Lucy busy for the next few days.

It wasn't very hard.

After months spent with just me and Eustace for company, Lucy had practically glued herself to Peter and the two spent hours together, talking about what had happened, both in Narnia and America. Eustace, who'd come with his family for Christmas, spent most of his time reading the Bible Lucy had given him.

All I had to do was make sure she wasn't near Susan.

Then one evening, Susan came downstairs and into the family room. Peter and I were playing chess and Lucy was talking to Eustace.

Susan was holding a large, floppy package, and I wondered why she'd bothered wrapping it.

"Lucy," Susan announced, making all of us look up. "I know it's a few days early, but Edmund and I thought we'd give you your birthday present now."

Lucy's eyes instantly shifted to me and I felt my face heat up in a mixture of embarrassment and shame. I'd completely forgotten. Some brother I was.

Lucy set her book aside and then stood up, slowly walking over to accept her present.

She took it over to the couch and sat down, setting it in her lap and staring at it, as if she could see right through the paper.

Then she started untying and unwrapping it, and then, shoving the paper aside, she held it up for all to see.

I felt my jaw drop and I heard Peter gasp.

The dress was beautiful. It looked like Susan's coronation dress, with the bodice, the flaring skirt, and the long sleeves.

"Happy Birthday, Lu," Susan said.

"Happy Birthday," I echoed, smiling at her.

She was quiet for a moment and then the dress was laid on the couch as she flew over to Susan, hugging her tightly as words of thanks spewed from her mouth.

"Hey," I said teasingly. "Don't I get thanks?"

She laughed and hugged me, her happiness and joy spreading through me like a warm fire.

"You're beautiful, Valiant," I whispered to her. "Inside and out."


End file.
